Book Review: Other / About TV Shows

I adored this book, even though it was a compilation of so many things I’d already read or seen on the TV show. It brought back great memories, revealed a few new facts and helped understand a lot of history I’d only known a little bit about. If you are a fan of the show, you must give it a read thru. It’ll make you smile over and over again. If you’re not a fan of the show, no point in reading it. That said, the author does a great job with the family tree history, keep character history and highlights of the best of the best and the worst of the worst. I was very sad when the show ended, but I also knew it was time to go… it had gotten so far off track. My rating: 4 of 5 stars

About MeFor those new to me or my reviews… here’s the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you’ll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I’ve visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.

I was not a regular viewer of General Hospital, but during the 1990s and 2000s, I kept very close tabs on all the story lines, history and actors on each of the daytime dramas. I liked knowing the spoilers, comparing shows and seeing which actresses and actors were moving from show to show. It made sense that I’d read this book all about GH. Just like the ATWT, DOOL and GL books, it was very useful in learning all the family connections, seeing older pictures and getting immersed in the history. A great book to flip thru, a few pages at a time, to keep close to the shows you enjoy.

About MeFor those new to me or my reviews… here’s the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you’ll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I’ve visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.

ReviewNext to Guiding Light, As The World Turns (ATWT) was my favorite soap opera in the 90’s and early 2000’s. I stopped watching ATWT around 2007, as I couldn’t keep up with 4 of them… and focused only on GL.

But ATWT was a great show, and when Julie Poll published this scrapbook, I had to have it! It chronicled so much of the past in the 1950s thru the 1980s when I wasn’t really alive to watch it. I read a lot in magazines and on the internet, but having a whole book dedicated to it was amazing.

If you’re a fan of the show, it’s a great way to stay connected, and even learn new things. If you’re not, but you love family drama and genealogy, it’s also a cool way to study as much as possible. And then maybe you can watch old episodes on Youtube.

It can easily be read all in one setting — lots of great pictures. But you can also read section by section over a few weeks or months, stretching out the fun.

And I would love to try a telenovela after all this!

About MeFor those new to me or my reviews… here’s the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you’ll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I’ve visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.

Guiding Light was the longest running television soap opera, airing from 1937 to 1952 on radio, and then from 1952 until 2009 on TV. I became hooked on it the summer I turned 13 and had a lot of free time on my hands. I watched it for 15+ years, faithfully recording it on my VCR while I was at school and then when I went to college. It wasn’t easy explaining why a 21 year old guy had to record a show on the VCR for an hour a day. And I would get crabby whenever I missed it!

By 2000, the show was on a decline, in part due to the months-long televised OJ Simpson trial. End result, Guiding Light pulled out all the stops to try and retain more viewership. One of those attempts was publishing a book about a few of the most memorable characters, and it was called Guiding Light: Jonathan’s Story, by Julia London.

As I was a huge fan, I had to read it; however, if you only watched the show, and didn’t know about the book, things were happening off screen to the characters that you never knew about. And that just felt odd.

When I checked my “read” books today to see what I needed to write a review on, this one showed up, and I saw that of about 1000 Goodreads friends as of today, 0 had read this book. Hilarious! So I’m not going to convince you to read it. And you’re probably thinking…

All I can say is… when you love a TV show, you’ll read anything about the characters. And while the book wasn’t bad, it was just a bit odd for me to read it and then watch a different story line on TV. I applaud the show for trying this method tho!

About MeFor those new to me or my reviews… here’s the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you’ll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I’ve visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.

Barbara Venkataraman‘s “A Trip to the Hardware Store & Other Calamities” is an amusing collection of short tales that leave you with a breath of fresh, much-needed laughter. This is the second of her “Quirky Essays for Quirky People” collection, and a must-read for anyone looking to really connect with an author’s writing style. I’ve read several of her books at this point, and these little stories clearly offer a candid look into the author’s life, imagination and ability to create characters. While I don’t know how much of them are really about her, I will say that she calls herself out a few times which leads me to believe it’s 100% Barbara… and that works for me. From sisterly bonding, to a poor suffering Dad who just wants his family to tell him he did a good job, these stories ranging for 1 page to 5 pages are cute insights into all of our lives. My only question is “did this all happen to the same person?” and oh, well, then my second question (just deal with it, I meant 2 questions)… is this really Barbara because if so, I want to meet her.

Picture 20 to 30 two page stories all intertwined with repeating characters that make you chuckle or giggle. Some are about her sisters, some are about friends, others repeat characters from some of her other works… but all are funny.

It’s great for a short read between classes, before bed or listen to it on the way home from work in the car. But be careful, you may laugh yourself into one of her silly situations!